


to be alone

by hailciscoramon



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, High School, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Mild Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-14 00:42:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29659824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hailciscoramon/pseuds/hailciscoramon
Summary: New schools and new friends are never easy, and her snarky biology lab partner wasn't making it any easier, but damn if she wasn't determined to get that 4.0.Anna wants an A, Shane just wants to survive high school. They both have a lot of baggage, and sometimes the universe just puts broken people together.
Relationships: Abigail/Sebastian (Stardew Valley), Shane/Female Player (Stardew Valley), Shane/Player (Stardew Valley)
Kudos: 2





	to be alone

It was the last day of summer here, and there was no one to even enjoy it with. If she were back at home she would probably be at the mall right now, shopping for a ‘first day back’ outfit with her best friends, talking about the SAT they’d be taking in the spring, getting ready to be upperlcassmen for the first time. 

But she wasn’t home.

She was here. Pelican Town. Boringsville, USA. She’d seen more cows here than people so far, and they’d been unpacking for a week already. Her tiny bedroom was still cluttered with boxes, half unpacked from where she was only looking for a specific item. The red wallpaper in the room was fading and the old floorboards creaked any time she stepped on them. This was nothing like her room in the city, and she really resented her father for making her move here. She almost resented her grandfather for leaving her dad the house to begin with. Perhaps it was a final gesture of kindness, knowing her grandfather it almost certainly was, but it just hurt to be here without him. 

Even the room she was sitting in now used to be his office, a bookshelf sat where her bed was, his desk underneath the window. It used to be filled with recipes and gardening books, raising animals, making pie, repairing farm equipment, everything he needed was in this house. Now it was just filled with her things, the belongings of a city girl that looked so out of place in this room now. It almost felt too metaphorical, loud, modern possessions trying to make this bedroom her new home, trying and failing. 

She hated being in the kitchen, hated being downstairs at all really, but standing at the oven she baked at with him as a child just felt wrong now. It didn’t feel right to be here if he wasn’t, and although he wanted them here, it felt like an invasion of his privacy. His entire life was in this house, he built half the furniture in it himself. And she was just supposed to forget all of that?

She missed her life, her friends, almost as much as she missed her grandpa. Although she never really liked them all that much as people, they were still the only friends she had. She was alone here, a town she didn’t want to live in to begin with, the worst way to end the summer and definitely the worst way to start her junior year of high school.

Why couldn’t they have just stayed in the city? She understood why her dad wouldn’t want to sell grandpa’s house, but couldn’t he rent it out? Come here for the summer? Not uproot his kid’s entire lives for this? Maybe she was being bitter and unsympathetic, but her father was no stranger to that. He’d just never been on the receiving end of it before, but there had been some tension between the two of them since the morning they got here.

She remembered how he’d thrown open the front door and led his daughters into the house, it was smaller than Anna recalled. It was too cold and too quiet, there was no fire burning in the fireplace, no strawberry jam simmering on the stove, no roast in the oven, there was nothing but empty space, one of the locals had moved all of their grandfather’s big furniture into the shed for them so the house would be ready when they arrived, but Anna had never seen it so barren. Everything was just wrong and she couldn’t understand why she seemed to be the only one that noticed it.

“Anna?” her younger sister Bri was standing in her open doorway now, tapping on the frame with her knuckles. 

Anna always wished she was closer with her sister, and wished they had more in common. She knew her sister would adjust to life well out here. After all, when she turned 13 and didn’t want to spend summers working on the farm with grandpa, but at the mall food court with friends she never really even liked, it was Bri who still returned to Pelican Town every year. She would be just fine here, probably even love it. 

Bri was two years younger, but never seemed like it, she was excited about life and down to earth, humble and compassionate, sometimes Anna felt like the younger sibling, sometimes she felt like Bri deserved a better sister. 

But Anna knew she could never be that, so she settled for mediocrity, for just being the goofy, confident one. If she was good for nothing else, she was good for a smile, and she knew that. “What’s up?” she turned her head to face her sister.

“Dad wants you to run to the store in town for more eggs, he said he’s making breakfast for us in the morning,” her sister replied.

Anna groaned as her sister turned and retreated back down the hallway. It wasn’t that she wasn’t thrilled to get out of this house, because she was, but why send her into a town she hardly knew? 

Right, perks of having a single dad, perks of being the oldest daughter. You become the surrogate mother in a way. 

Dad tried his best, she was aware of that, and she was grateful for what he did do, but damn if it wasn’t exhausting to feel like people expected so much more from you than you were capable of. Now that Bri was getting older it wasn’t so bad, but when she was younger, after their mom first left, it felt like everything was falling onto Anna’s shoulders. Get Bri ready in the morning for school, make sure she has a lunch packed, see that she does her homework, help her do the laundry. It was a lot for an 11 year old to take on, and their father spent so much time working then that he didn’t even realize how much he was neglecting at home.

But he swore things would be better here, he swore he’d spend more time with the girls, that Anna could be a 16 year old here and not have to worry about anything at home.

Yeah, we’ll see about that.

The first few months after her mom left were hard for him, but they were hard on everyone, and Anna felt as though he failed to see that for a long time. Of course it’s hard when your wife up and leaves with her boss in the middle of the night, but it seemed that he didn’t stop to consider how hard it was for your mother to do it.

Now mom just calls on holidays, sends birthday cards, and likes Facebook statuses. That’s how she parents her two daughters. It made Anna furious, what upset her even more is how much Bri desperately wanted for her to come home, or to reach out. She missed her so much, if their mother walked back into their lives right now, she’d accept her with open arms.

But not Anna, it could never be that simple for her. She wouldn’t let it be. You don’t get to do that to your children, it’s not right. 

Heading downstairs, mind preoccupied, keys gripped tightly in one hand, Anna was almost completely taken out by a mass of fur.

“Alfredo!” her father closely followed, holding the dog’s leash and collar in one hand. He sighed as the dog ran past them both, up the stairs and into Bri’s room at the top.

“Everything okay?” Anna asked, staring after the dog. It was unlike him to be so erratic, he always came when called, and her dad was Alfredo’s favorite person in the world.

“I think he’s just still adjusting,” her dad sighed, “I wanted to just take him for a walk, make him more comfortable with the property. I guess he’s not up for it today.”

Anna shrugged, “he’ll come around, you know how he is.”

“I certainly hope so,” he muttered, “did Bri ask you to-”

“Yes,” she held her keys up so he could see, “going now.”

“Good, I just want to make sure you both get off to a good start at your new schools tomorrow.”

“I know, dad,” she didn’t meet his eyes. She told herself that he was  _ trying _ at least, and for a long time that’s all she wanted, why couldn’t she accept it now? God, she could hardly look her father in the eye most days, especially lately. She was frustrated and resentful, and simply counting down the days until she was forced to take over as Bri's parent again while their dad was lost in something else. Things like that are inevitable, maybe people just don't change. That was the case with her mother, she figured. Her mother had always just been good at pretending, good at playing make believe and dress up when she was a little girl, and as Anna got older, good at pretending she wasn't having an affair too. Good at pretending to be invested in the lives of her children, and really good at disappearing from them. 

Maybe people always leave, and that's just a fact of life. Some people learn to deal with it, some don't. The people who learn to deal don't get hurt, they manage their expectations of people and can enjoy the satisfaction of being right every single time. Sure it can come across bitter and angry, but if the bitterness kept the heartache away then who gives a shit? 

At the end of the day, all you have is yourself, and that's what she intended to remember this year.

**Author's Note:**

> I think I just like high school AUs a lot. Also, this chapter is very short but they won't all be, I just wanted to save any introductions until chapter 2.


End file.
